By Sammie Wicks
A young Tempe financial analyst, who says her day job represents her “practical side,” claims a new part-time vocation has helped her integrate creativity into her life—with the help of animal intelligence.
“I thoroughly love animals of almost all shapes and sizes,” says Angelina Allsop, a newly signed-on participant in the popular owner-sitter clearinghouse trustedhousesitters.com. Born in Germany and enjoying an international worldview, Allsop says she eagerly awaits opportunities to explore every corner of the globe.
“When my husband and I were trying to follow our dream of seeing the world— hopefully cheaply— I got signed up with that organization, and it had the added benefit of providing not only house-sitting assignments, but animal companionship along with it.”
It’s not just companionship Allsop receives from the animals she cares for, though; it’s a whole other stream of consciousness.
“When you’re having, you know, ‘conversations’ with an animal, there’s something there that we have to call ‘PSI.’ It’s not language, it’s not all these strings of human words, but I believe with the animals, there’s so much more pure connection.
“Really, we have to acknowledge that, even among communicating humans, only a small percentage of what we’re trying to say is in language.”
But what about that practical side, the world of science, rules, logic, probabilities?
“Well, one thing I learned reading Einstein was his idea that there are different KINDS of intelligence,” Allsop reasons, “and among those is the important area of emotional intelligence. I sometimes think animals have this kind of understanding far beyond that of humans.”
Allsop, a published writer, credits her father’s strong influence during her formative years for her current career path.
“I had this huge ambition of being a creative writer when I was young, and my dad kept saying ‘Lawyer, Lawyer! That gives you security. And lawyers can also write books,’” Allsop remembers, laughing. She says his counsel reaffirmed that her father wanted the best for her.
“I guess my dad’s admonitions made me pursue the practical line of work that I’m in,” Allsop admits. “And, there’s no denying money can be useful, so here I am, looking at data.”
Still, for those who understand this, creativity keeps intruding on our mundane lives until we listen. When Allsop is awakened by her non-logical side, the magic of animals, and their supreme importance in her life, speaks.
“When I was a three-year-old kid, the neighborhood folks would all just shake their heads and say, ‘Here comes that little girl with the parakeet on her head.” As a child, Allsop loved the bird to distraction, and was hardly to be seen without it, in her room or on daily jaunts through her neighborhood.
“She died when I was in high school,” says Allsop, “but I had my cat, and related to her at a very high level—she was oh so bright.”
The higher levels of thought and cognitive understanding she explores in the company of animals Allsop asserts is the provenance of her creative process as a writer.
“Talking about the more abstruse areas of consciousness makes me realize that there are things in play in the process of writing that are hard to explain. Like with my characters. Say, the image, or the ‘presence,’ is one of a butterfly. And the butterfly lands on my shoulder, and it’s almost like the butterfly is telling me, ‘You’re the one who’s going to take care of me now.’ And it then becomes a ‘thing,’ its own existence. In a sense, ‘they’ choose FOR me, and communicate that to my higher self.”
Just so. But for now, there remain youth, and wanderlust, and animals and their human servants in far off places to watch over.
“My husband and I are relishing being nomadic, meeting all these wonderful and interesting people and animals all over world,” Allsop dreams, imagining the myriad unknown lands stretched out ahead her.
“People everywhere have gardens that need tending and animals that need minding, and I can’t wait to be the one to give that.”
